Evol

Sonic Youth | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 27, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B000003TAH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,276 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #70 in Music > Alternative Rock > American Alternative > General
  • #71 in Music > Miscellaneous > Experimental Music

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a beautiful artsy wonder, January 27, 2002

By 

Teacher in Texas (Fredericksburg, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evol (Audio CD)

I don't own half of all the Sonic Youth recordings, and I don't pretend to catch all the hidden nuances and meanings lurking in this release. However, I must say that from what I've heard of SY so far, this is my favorite album. Though my favorite individual songs ('Washing Machine','Sweet Shine', etc.) are usually on other releases, this album is a sheer masterpiece on both the conceptual level and judging from pure enjoyment. It's taken me a while to piece together what Sonic Youth is actually up to in their music, but they seem to pull it off flawlessly here. Conceptually, this album is ingeniously constructed; combining the songform with the infamous noisey drones and chaotic bursts, sometimes several times in a single track, SY manages to form a sort of theme album that gives off the same dreamy vibes throughout its duration. The carefree-ness and unorthodoxy in terms of the audio image makes the album more of a work of art than a so-called 'rock CD' (which is largely why SY is considered art-rock, I assume). The melodic quality of the music here is superb. Unless they've got me totally fooled, SY wrote many of these songs using very subtle counterpoint and unconventional melodies that seem so dissonant at first that the listener is tempted to write it off from the start. 'Green Light' is a perfect example. One time, at the beginning few minutes of the song, my mom walked in and actually laughed and said 'In my day these guys would have never gotten a record deal'. Now, to be fair, she didn't have enough time to analyze it.. but my point remains the same. If listened to carefully, this song is actually quite lovely and emotionally expressive even though the notes seem to fight each other at every turn. This may be a fundamental observation, but I think the dissonant noise serves to cloak the beautiful undertow inherent in the music. Once you just surrender to the sound as a whole, you begin to see all the hidden beauty. About the songs themselves, almost all of them are winners. 'Shadow of a Doubt' and 'Star Power' are simply gorgeous. 'Secret Girl' has a nice chunk of noise and a piano with some eerie guitar screeches in the background, giving it that 'feel' that I'm trying so unsuccessfully to describe. The Sean Penn song, whichever title you prefer, is also brilliant as it builds to a blissful, climactic guitar tapestry. Even 'Bubblegum' is good :^). Anyway, I highly recommend it.. it is simply a work of art. Other SY releases also come highly recommended.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sonic Youth's moody masterpiece, April 8, 2006

By 

Scott Hedegard "Scott" (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Evol (Audio CD)

Originally released on the wonderful SST label (check out the website), "Evol" was the first really definitive Sonic Youth album. From the ultra disturbing woman on the cover (Lung Leg, whoever that is, apparently from some indie film) to the music itself, we embark on a sonic journey through the nether regions of our minds. This is where nightmares dwell and resurface in the detuned guitars that howl, feedback, ring out and swirl about under and over the songs themselves.
"Tom Violence" is somewhat subtle, at least as the CD opens (I don't think the track listing is correct), with the guitar noize waiting until near tracks' end to take us deep into audio alienation.
A gruesome spoken word piece giving us details of a gory auto wreck, a piano playing a beautiful snippet and a storm of guitar feedback and dissonant tones that closes "Sean, Madonna and Me", or, alternately titled "Expressway To Yr Skull" give us a view of the dark side from a safe distance. Album owners of the original release may recall that at the end of "Expressway To Yr Skull", which closed the album, unlike "Bubblegum" that closes the CD, there is no outgroove to allow the needle to return to its stand. Thus, the drone continues on and on, sometimes nearly hypnotizing you before you realize what's going on. Can't do this with a binary code. A must have for SY fans.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sonic youth's best work in my opinion, October 1, 2005

By 

K. Rowland (Atlanta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evol (Audio CD)

i would like to say first off their is not a bad song on this cd, it is all mind tripping bliss. my favorite 2 songs being tom violence and marilyn moore with of course the masterpiece from this album expressway to yr. skull. i do own most of sonic youth's other stuff except work from 98-2003 but ive heard most of this, and i can also say that i think this is the most lyrically strong cd they have also. the two love songs on this cd star power and green light are just amazing they drew me in the first time i heard them sonic youth might be noise punk to the core but they can still make pretty songs. another thing i would like to say is i think this album is much better than daydream nation. if u talk 2 most sonic youth fans they will tell you daydream nation is the best cd but i totally disagree, i think this is musically lyrically and just all around superb to daydream nation. this was their height the prior realeases to this which were "confusioin is sex" and bad moon rising are amazing but arent for everyone.then the realeases prior 2 this are great also but i consider this their height. if u like sonic youth and u already have this cd and not much of the other stuff i would recommend sister which in my opinion was very close 2 this album in being my favorite i recommend washing machine also which goes against some of their medicore early 90's work like dirty and goo